skimmer

[kgb]

hey guys i have a skilter 250 for my 20 gallong tank

i dont know if any one is familiar with this filter but here what is wrong

ok there is an air hose that connects to the cylindar foer the protien skimmer

no this when on is very noisey and i heard is alright but by adding a wooden air stone will help out alot more

so i do this the guy at the lfs tells me to take a film canister cut a hole in the bottum and put the air stone in the film canaister . no put the canister upside down ao the main whole is facing up and put this in the cylindar

ok worked great for a day then i went tobed and came out in the morning and the is like 2 gallons of water comeing from the watse container on the filter

any ideads on what to do ?

also any one have any ideas or heard of any to make this filter skim better

[Guy]

I have a Modified 250 on my nano.

 

First thing, I heard of this film cannister mod a long time ago but never tried it. If I remember correctly, it was intended to reduce the amount of bubbles returning in the tank. I never tried it so can't comment, but I will say that I don't have any bubbles going back to my tank and I have no special modifications other than still using the floss pad in the filter.

 

Second, the reason for the overflow is because the airstone was not adjusted properly. Basically too much air to the wooden airstone. I am using a tetra luft pump on my skilter and it is adjustable, if your's isn't, just add an airvalve in between the pump and airstone to allow for air reduction or increase.

You should adjusted the airflow to a point where a blob of bubbles rises up the tube every 30 seconds or so. this is not an exact science, but if you have a constant flow of bubbles, you will quickly overflow the collection cup.

 

Other than that, I have done nothing special and my skimmer pulls out enough dark crap for me to empty it once a week.

 

Good luck,

Guy

[AZDesertRat]

I have basically the same setup except I use the foam filter pad from a Whisper Triad cartridge trimmed to fit in the Skilter frame rather than the floss pads. I rinse it once a week or so and have used it for years with two different Skilters.